The messages deflected blame for civilian casualties in not only this week’s attack on the U.S. Embassy, but throughout the decade-long conflict. The two attacked each others posts and it was notable that NATO even engaged in the online fight, given that the Twitter handle is almost exclusively used for routine military updates.

“Artists and celebs beefing on twitter? *yawn* How about NATO and the Taliban?” @JustBlaze posted on Twitter.

Indeed, the back-and-forth, which was chronicled in detail in the Mashable article, drew more head scratching from observers than anything. There was an almost comic tone, despite the fact that it followed a violent battle in which at least 16 civilians were killed, and frequent notes that it was ironic that “people who are literally shooting at each other” would take time out to shoot dueling statistics and insults at one another.

Several posts built on the “make tweets, not war” theme, while several others asked if “World War III will be fought on Twitter?” But few forgot that this was simply a short break from very real violence.

“Taliban, NATO spar on Twitter. If only they could keep it there,” Rich Brooks tweeted.